Leonid Radvinsky

Leonid "Leo" Radvinsky (Ukrainian: Леонід Радвінський; born May 1982[1]) is a Florida-based[2] Ukrainian-American[3] businessman, pornographer and computer programmer. He is the founder of the cam site MyFreeCams (through his holding company, Mfcxy, Inc.),[4][5] and the majority owner of content subscription service OnlyFans.

Biography

Radvinsky was born in Odesa, Ukraine and his Jewish family later emigrated to Chicago when he was a child.[6] In 2002, he graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in economics.[7][8]

Radvinsky operates a venture capital fund called "Leo", founded in 2009,[7] which invests mainly in tech companies.[9] Notable investments include Israel-based B4X and software creator, Pleroma.[8] Radvinsky is also a supporter of the Elixir programming language.[3]

In May 2021, The Guardian described him as a "US-based online pornography veteran who largely chooses to avoid the media."[10] He donated $5 million to Ukraine relief in 2022 as well a cancer charity, an animal-welfare organization, and a skin-disorder-research fund.[8]

Career

Early career

In 1999, when Radvinsky was 17 years old, he helped incorporate Cybertania Inc.[6] During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Radvinsky developed more than ten websites such as Password Universe, Working Passes and Ultra Passwords that claimed and were advertised to provide users with "illegal" and "hacked" passwords to porn sites, where he earned money for every click.[6][11] Ultra Passwords reportedly earned $1.8 million a year in revenue during the 2000s.[8]

In 2004, he founded MyFreeCams, an adult streaming website.[6] The same year, Microsoft sued Radvinsky for allegedly sending millions of deceptive emails to Hotmail users, but the case was eventually dismissed.[12][13]

OnlyFans

In 2018, he bought a 75% stake in OnlyFans' parent company Fenix International Ltd. from its British founder Tim Stokely.[5][14] After this, OnlyFans became increasingly focused on not safe for work (NSFW) content and "gained a pop culture reputation for being a hive of pornography".[14] In a roughly two-year period from 2021 to 2022, Radvinsky received around $500 million in dividends from the website.[15]

References
  1. "MR LEONID RADVINSKY". Company Check Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  2. "About me". Leonid Radvinsky. Retrieved 2 July 2021. I (...) live in sunny Florida
  3. Radvinsky, Leonid. "About". Retrieved 11 June 2021. A first-generation immigrant from Ukraine, technology was imprinted on Leo at an early age
  4. "Mfcxy, Inc. Company Profile". D&B. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  5. Nilsson, Patricia (30 April 2021). "OnlyFans blurs boundaries as lockdown demand drives success". The Financial Times. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  6. Matthew Field (October 2022). "The elusive porn baron behind OnlyFans". The Telegraph.
  7. "Profile: Leo Radvindky". LinkedIn. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  8. Jyoti Mann. "OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky's quest to join the super-rich". Business Insider.
  9. "Leo.com". Leo.com. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  10. Waterson, Jim (24 May 2021). "Essex family behind OnlyFans profit from pornography boom". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  11. Brewster, Thomas; Dawkins, David (16 June 2021). "The Shady, Secret History Of OnlyFans' Billionaire Owner". Forbes. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  12. Shaw, Lucas (5 December 2020). "OnlyFans Is a Billion-Dollar Media Giant Hiding in Plain Sight". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  13. "Amazon.com, Microsoft Team Against Online Fraud". Microsoft. 28 September 2004. Retrieved 2 July 2021. Microsoft, too, filed a new and separate lawsuit against Leonid ("Leo") Radvinsky and his Chicago-based businesses Activsoft, Inc., and Cybertania, Inc.
  14. Zitser, Joshua (24 December 2020). "'Being made homeless is a perpetual fear': What it's like to risk everything just for posting on OnlyFans". The Independent. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  15. Seal, Thomas (2 September 2022). "OnlyFans Owner Gets Over $500 Million in Dividends in Two Years". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
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